Page 21 of Fall of the Trident
“Marta, this is Diane.I understand you’ll be on the ground in just a few minutes.Is Vice Admiral Maddox with you?”
Marta glanced at her boss.“Yes, he is.Is something wrong?”
“No, ma’am.Since he doesn’t have an aide, would you please let him know that his car is waiting inside the hangar.While you were in the air, DOD moved us to FPCON Delta.”
Holy shit.The Department of Defense had moved the Force Protection Condition to the highest level.
Marta was about to ask why and then realized her mistake.“Say nothing more.This is an unsecure line.We’ll stop by the office for a few minutes before we head to the parade field.Goodbye.”She disconnected the line.
Trevor raised an eyebrow.
“We’re at Delta.”That was all she needed to tell him, information that should have come from his aide.There was a strict chain of command for that kind of information, and Marta’s second-in-command was nowhere on that list.“Admiral, may I strongly suggest that you find an aide immediately.I’ll have that list on your desk before the end of the day.”
“Understood.”He gave her single nod.
“We only have a few minutes we can spare at the office; we both need to check our secure lines.According to my text, the men are already gathering.”She smiled.“The NCOs have stopped training at BUD/S so everyone can come hear your speech.”
“Fucking great,” he said under his breath.“What I have to say isn’t going to come anywhere close to Evan’s Phoenix speech.I just wanted to welcome them back and congratulate them on a very successful mission.”
“Do you think you should cancel?That’s over a thousand SEALs standing in an open parade field,” Marta pointed out.“With the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan— no doubt pissed because hundreds of special operators just snuck into their country and rescued hundreds of Americans and our friends—I guarantee the bounty of a dead SEAL has doubled.”
“We’re not going to cancel.”As the plane came to a stop on the runway, Trevor dialed his relatively new executive officer, Rear Admiral Paul O’Connor.“I was just informed that we’re at Delta.”He put the phone on speaker.“I’m on the ground.”
“That happened about an hour and a half ago, sir.”The rear admiral was all business.“I took the conference call from the Chief of Naval Operations in your absence.I’ll meet you in your office.”
Five minutes later, Marta and Paul followed Trevor into his office and closed the door.
“It seems the new Afghani administration didn’t like that we dropped into their country and left with all of the people they’d hoped to use as hostages to get even more out of the American government.”The rear admiral smirked.
Trevor crossed his powerful arms over his chest.“Well, that’s just too fucking bad.Little do they know if there’s still people there, we’ll go get them, too.”
“DOD has been warned by Homeland Security and the CIA that direct threats have been made against the new Special Operations Command.We know we have terrorist cells within the United States.At this point, there is nothing specific.”Paul held Trevor’s gaze.“Operating procedure calls for small groups only.”
“I’m well aware, but nothing is going to stop me from thanking these men.”Trevor quickly checked his computer.“The security updates are just clarifications.Let’s go do this thing.”Standing, he paused for a long moment.“Do we have snipers in place?”
“Yes, sir.As soon as I got the word, I contacted Captain Hubbard.He immediately deployed extra security, including snipers.”The rear admiral gave his boss a confident nod.Then he chuckled.“Since I’ve only been here a couple months, I actually pulled out the standard operating procedure for FPCON Delta.I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything, especially since we jumped over Charlie designation.”
Trevor slapped his XO on the shoulder.“I appreciate you taking over for me while I was on the East Coast.Let’s get this done and get our SEALs on a long liberty.”
“Admiral, since I’ve been away from my desk, please excuse me from the formation.”Marta knew there were a dozen things that had most likely been missed, especially at the base level.After several commanding officers had been relieved from command following the brothel bust, as she’d secretly named it, many of the new commanding officers hadn’t yet taken the course she taught.
Trevor chuckled.“You’ve already heard my lame speech.Besides, there’s no one better on the West Coast to tell me whether we’re compliant with the new designation.”
“My thoughts exactly.”She gave him a sassy smile as they walked out of his office.Before sitting down, she announced to her staff that they were welcome to join the others at the parade field.Once she opened her computer, she didn’t look up until she heard her oldest friend.
“I figured I’d find you here.”Her friend’s familiar voice pulled her out of scary possibilities.
Marta stood and hugged Genevieve.“I’m sure you’ve heard we’re at Delta, and I feel responsible to be sure all the commands on base understand their requirements.”
Genevieve slid into the guest chair at the desk, then glanced around at the empty room.She leaned in and spoke just above a whisper.“Okay, tell me.How did the trip to the Group 2 go?”
“Fantastic!And…” Marta dragged the word out.“I have a date Saturday night.”
Genevieve shifted even closer.“With who?”
Marta glanced around the still empty office.“Trevor.”
“Oh.My.God!Really?I’m so excited for both of you.”Genevieve leaned over and hugged her.
